Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Dec. 18, 1980, edition 1 / Page 1
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The News record , . ^ " ?? - * ' ?* * ? SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY -On thm Insldm . . . Madison Patriots Trample Black Hauks. See Story On Page 9. 79th Year No. 51 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL. N C THURSDAY, December 18, 1980 15* Per Copy ComputerAge Comes To Madison / *? M *""" By NICHOLAS HANCOCK Editor Visitors to the office of the Madison County Board of Education might think it's just an over sized IBM typewriter setting there along with the secretaries' other typing machines, but there's a lot more to it than just the familiar typewriter keyboard. It's a computer terminal, and the board of education acquired it recently to save worktime for the county's largest employer ? the school system. School superintendent Robert L. Edwards ex plained in a recent interview that this particular computer terminal would be used to handle the school system's payroll. "Right now, I have two girls that work six days (a total of 12 work days) in getting the payroll out. When this thing is hooked up, the job can be done in 15 minutes, I'm told,'' Edwards said. Once the computer has been programmed with information such as each employee's social security number, his pay scale and all related deductions including social security, state and federal withholdings and retirement payments, the operator of the terminal needs only to key in ther employee's name and social security number to have the computer figure all the deductions and print out the check for the proper amount on or just before payday. Edwards said when dealing with numerous line items related to the payroll it's easy to lose concentration and make an error when the opera tion is done by hand. The computer is capable of handling such tasks with practically no errors if the information is correctly programmed into it. With the volume of bookkeeping involved in the system's payroll, Edwards said he has "seen them (the office staff) work three days looking for two pennies, and if you're off even two cents on social security, it takes you three months to even get it cleared up." Madison's entry into the computer age came about when the Western Regional Education Center, located in Canton, conducted a survey in the 19 administrative units served by Region 8 as to some of the urgent needs in the district. As a result of the survey, Edwards, who serves as president of the district, submitted a request to the federal government for a grant to purchase the computer. According to Edwards, the central computer in Canton was purchased by the regional center with a cost of only $1,500 per year to the district for the "hardware." Each of the administrative units is to receive two terminals "to be placed wherever the educa tional need is," Edwards said. One of Madison's two terminals is at Madison High School where it is being used to teach mathematics by Mr. Rex Sprinkle. With the central computer located in Canton, the two local terminals which allow access to the computers memory banks and data are connected to it, by telephone lines. The terminal operator "communicates" with the computer through the typewriter-like keyboard much the same as so meone would place a telephone call to Canton. Edwards said the terminal located in his of fice would save the school system time, money and headaches in getting the payroll out. This electronic addition to the school system is part of what Edwards calls "making great strides" in the county's educational system. 1 i. rf/recks' TrU IWa*ed papers w Spreading the news is one of the main functions or & newspap^teompany, bdt the manner in which last week 's edition of the News-Record was spread over Madison County was not exactly what the company had in mind. The delivery truck hauling some 3,500 papers to Marshall from the printing plant in Waynesville overturned just South of Mars Hill on U.S. 19-23 scatter ing the freshly printed edition along the roadside in a heavy rain which destroyed 950 copies and subsequently delayed mail delivery to subscribers on five Marshall routes. The accident occurred at 7:15 p.m. last Tuesday when the vehicle hit a large puddle of water on the highway 1.4 miles south of Mars Hill near the old Beech Glen Road. The wheels of the truck hydroplaned on the water causing the driver, seventeen-year-old Steve Hipps of Waynesville, to lose control of the north-bound track. The vehicle crossed the median of the four-lane highway and the two southbound lanes, struck an embankment, overturned and came to a rest on its right side. According to trooper Robinson of the Slate Highway Patrol, neither Hipps nor a passenger, Tracy Cobb, were seriously injured in the accident. Cobb received minor cuts on his head. Patrolman Robinson said no charges were filed regarding the wreck, but damages to the 1979 Ford pickup were estimated at $1,800. The windshield of the vehicles was broken and the camper cover over the bed of the truck was thrown from the vehicle and prac tically destroyed. All of the News-Record's Dec. 11 edi tion were thrown from the truck when it overturned. Approximately 2,000 news papers were protected by mail sacks, but the ramianing 1,500 copies were soaked by the havey rainfall. About 960 papers, those scheduled to be delivered to five different Marshall mail routes, were damaged to the point of being unusable. Postal authorities in Marshall and Hot Springs allowed most of the a in soaked copies to remain in their offices Wednesday so they would be dry enough to mail out late Wednesday afternoon. The News-Record reordered the printing of the 950 copies to replace NEWS-RECORD DELIVERY TRUCK rests on its side after ac cident last week which damaged nearly 1,000 newspapers (foreground) causing a delay in those ruined in the wreck, and those papers were mailed to subscribers late Thursday afternoon. Most subscribers received their papers in Friday 's mail. New-Record personnel were kept busy Wednesday and Thursday answer ing telephone inquiries from subscribers who had not received their Photo by Scott Lunslord delivery to Marshall mail-route subscribers. The overturned vehi cle sustained extensive damage, however, the occupants of the truck escaped without injuries. papers in Wednesday's mail. The News-Record is printed each Tuesday at the Mountaineer Press in Waynesville. The papers are delivered to Marshall on Tuesday night where the bundles are sorted for distrubution to mail subscribers and newspaper racks in the county. Bridge To Be Replaced With New Structure The surveying crew is already at work, and in a few weeks much of the material and equipment needed to con struct a new Southern Bailroad bridge spanning the French Broad River will be brought to the construction site two and one-half miles south of Marshall at River view. . . The new 888 foot bridge will replace the old existing struc ture which was built in 1909. The new bridge will be a modern, low profile steel structure located a few yards downstream from the existing bridge and once completed, -I J L. J? _ ???ill ? wnm ii ?? ii 1 1 me oia Drragc win oe reiuoveo Southern Railway Bridge Built In 1909 At Ivey River -A} ,C" A CTW? ImkI to corn* in here and jsck the *Mp tmk into p?0?0aUH-p^rs? few bridge from the ptan The M? bridge will be eomewhut laager and at a different angle to the river t? order to reduce the arc of the curvee at the ends of it? bridge M" & The prospect of buiWing a iMive structure of steel and concrete over a flowing river out several innovative -Ok x methods to carry out the task. Boatwright said Conner dams would be built to divert the flow of the river so that construction crews can build the six piers in the river bed. It will take 11,600 cubic yarda of gravel faces with sandbags to create the cofferdams for the first stage of the construction. Once the *ik piers and the north abutment of the bridge is completed, building materials would be moved across the river to begin the second stage of construction. Stage II calk far dumping 8,800 cubic yards of gravel into the south side of the river in order to craate the cofferdam which will allow the building a t two SMre piers and the ^MARSHALL mow oy n. nancocn SCHOOL BOARD SECRETARY Sandra Fowler stands behind the recently acquired computer terminal which will aid the office in getting the school system s payroll out. Grave Robbery Trial Delayed Trial of grave robbery cases arising from forced entry last June 13 into a private mausoleum in Hot Springs was continued Dec. 8 in Madison County Superior Court. New indictments were drawn and presented to the grand jury that added a fourth defendant, Kevin Sams, 20, of Greeneville, Tenn. Sams and two other defendants, Luther Aikens, 28, of Hot Springs and Lewis Bollo, 21, of Jacksonville, Fla., are each charged with conspiracy and six counts of felonious grave robbery. Stanley Lewis, 58, of Hot Springs, originally indicted for grave robbery, was charged with conspiracy and with being an accessory before and after the fact in each of the six grave openings. Lewis and Aikens have been in the jail here since Oct. 20 in lieu of posting $50,000 bond each. Bollo was said fay Sheriff E.Y. Ponder to be in jail in Jacksonville and will ing to waive extradition to North Carolina. Officers reported that valuables such as rings, necklaces and other items estimated to be worth about $30,000 along with skulls and teeth had been removed from the above-ground burial place. N ames Submitted For Magistrates r The names of eight persons were sub mitted to Superior Court Judge Ronald W. Howell to be considered for four magistrate positions in Madison County last week. In accordance with North Carolina General Statute 7 A- 171, the clerk of Superior Court, James Cody, submitted the following names of individuals for Howell's consideration: Elymas Yates William Roberts,] Peek, all of Owen Ball . The I
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Dec. 18, 1980, edition 1
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